The United States and its partners should unconditionally resume the long-stalled six-party nuclear talks with North Korea, a former U.S. negotiator said, stressing that ignoring Pyongyang won't improve the situation.

Joseph DeTrani, who served as deputy U.S. negotiator for the six-party talks, made the point in an article contributed to the Washington Times on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of a landmark 2005 denuclearization deal with the North.

"On the 10th anniversary of the Joint Statement, it's time for these six countries -- China, the United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea and North Korea -- to re-enter into serious negotiations and build upon the 2005 Joint Statement," DeTrani said.

DeTrani said the North "must be convinced that its security and economic well-being will be enhanced when it implements" the 2005 agreement, and the U.S. and other dialogue partners must use the same energy spent on the Iranian nuclear issue to unconditionally resume the six-party talks.

"Indeed, if these resumed negotiations prove futile and North Korea refuses to denuclearize in exchange for security assurances, and economic and energy assistance offered in the Joint Statement, then a reappraisal for dealing with North Korea will be required," DeTrani said.

"But ignoring North Korea and thinking that things will improve without interaction with the North is unrealistic," he said.

"Hopefully, the current dialogue between the North and South will facilitate a return to six-party talks."

Implementation of the 2005 deal showed some progress in the ensuing years, with North Korea demolishing a cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex in 2007 in a show of its commitment to denuclearization. But disagreement over verifying Pyongyang's past nuclear activity led to the suspension of the negotiations in late 2008.

Pyongyang, which conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, has since conducted two more nuclear tests, in 2009 and 2013.

North Korea has called for the unconditional resumption of the negotiations, but the U.S. and South Korea have demanded that the communist nation first take concrete steps demonstrating it's serious about giving up its nuclear program.

Nuclear and missile tensions on the Korean Peninsula have risen again this week after Pyongyang made apparent threats to conduct a long-range rocket launch, possibly around next month's ruling party anniversary, and its fourth nuclear test. (Yonhap)